Sustainable wine tourism in a non-sustainable world

Abstract

The 6th Conference of Wine Tourism, organized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 20222), dealt with very important questions regarding the future of wine tourism. It is obvious that the rapidly growing and increasingly complex social-economic-political and natural environmental challenges create a chaotic (non-sustainable) world in which the answers are possible through broad cooperation and radical innovations. This is the case with tourism, including wine tourism, because they are especially sensitively affected by these changes. (UNWTO, 20221) All of this goes far beyond the boundaries of the sector but, at the same time, creates broad opportunities for the active participation of all members in the value chain of wine tourism. Innovation in services, marketing, and partnerships creates broad opportunities for all value chain members, including travelers, companies, authorities, and locals, at a critical moment when active participation and conscious thinking can increase the value of wine tourism destinations and their environment. Failure to do so can significantly weaken the competitiveness of a given region. The work aimed at this may be the key to the future development of wine tourism and the survival of those interested who have lived from it until now. The last two years have brought significant changes in wine tourism and transformed travel logistics, wine experience planning, and consumer behavior. In addition, a number of challenges that had already appeared came to the fore - from digitalization to sustainability and network cooperation. Sustainability increasingly determines the services offered by wineries and vineyards and travellers' attitudes and purchasing decisions. Meanwhile, digitization and e-commerce have become vital tools in the hands of producers, distributors, and wine tourism businesses, as well as destinations. Necessary innovations in experiences, marketing, and partnerships create broad engagement opportunities for all value chain members. We are focusing on looking for answers to the following research questions, especially taking into account the Hungarian specialities: - On a global level, how important is it to consider sustainability in the wine tourism services of wineries, and to what extent is this differentiated depending on local conditions? - Globally and per country, what aspects do wineries consider in relation to the imple­mentation of sustainable wine tourism? - How do the various sustainability aspects appear as a complex system in decisions about sustainable wine tourism services? Based on the analysis of international experiences and surveys, we try to provide local answers for Hungarian wineries to these questions.